Related papers: What do dynamical cluster masses really tell us ab…
Dynamical models of star clusters are maturing in the sense that effects other than simple point particle dynamics are taken into account. We summarize the relevance of and prospects for this new generation of N-body models.
We investigate whether the dynamical status of clusters is related to the large-scale structure of the Universe. We find that cluster substructure is strongly correlated with the tendency of clusters to be aligned with their nearest…
The theoretical relation between the number of post main sequence stars from stellar populations and their total mass in investigated. This is used to derive some basic relations between the stellar number counts of stellar populations with…
Recent analysis of stellar populations in barred galaxies have focused on the spatial distribution of stellar population ages and metallicities. However, barred galaxies are complex objects where dynamical instabilities play a leading role…
I summarize in terms of evolutionary population synthesis models our current understanding of stellar populations in different environments, from star clusters in nearby galaxies to distant galaxies in clusters or seen through gravitational…
Dynamical evolution plays a key role in shaping the current properties of star clusters and star cluster systems. A detailed understanding of the effects of evolutionary processes is essential to be able to disentangle the properties which…
We propose a new approach to study the dynamical implications of mass models of clusters for the velocity structure of galaxies in the core. Strong and weak lensing data are used to construct the total mass profile of the cluster, which is…
Pre-main sequence evolutionary theory is not well-calibrated to observations. With care, the observed quantities can be converted into effective temperature and luminosity (i.e. the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram) which the theoretical…
Dynamical evolution of stellar mass distribution in star clusters is analysed by considering simultaneously the effects of dynamical friction, stochastic heating and the gravitational potential due to mass distribution in the clusters. A…
Mass determinations are difficult to obtain and still frequently characterised by deceptively large uncertainties. We review below the various mass estimators used for star clusters of all ages and luminosities. We highlight a few recent…
The observed mass-to-light (M/L) ratios of globular clusters (GCs) are on average ~20% lower than expected from Simple Stellar Population (SSP) models, which only account for the effects of stellar evolution. We study the M/L ratio…
The evolution of star clusters is studied using N-body simulations in which the evolution of single stars and binaries are taken self-consistently into account. Initial conditions are chosen to represent relatively young Galactic open…
Stellar population synthesis models are an essential tool with which galaxy physical parameters are extracted from observations. However they are built on assumptions designed for use in the local Universe, and not always appropriate to…
The age of an individual star cannot be measured, only estimated through mostly model-dependent or empirical methods, and no single method works well for a broad range of stellar types or for a full range in age. This review presents a…
We study the mass distribution of a sample of 24 X-ray bright Abell clusters through weak gravitational lensing. This method is independent of the dynamical state of the galaxy cluster. Hence, by comparing dynamical and lensing mass…
I will show that photometry -- if extending over a reasonable choice of passbands -- can give fairly precise information about young star clusters and their evolutionary state. Optical colors alone are known to leave severe ambiguities due…
We look for very low-mass members in open clusters with different ages placed at different distances. The main goal is to produce a reliable census of low-mass stars for each of the clusters and derive the Initial Mass Function. To achieve…
Age is one of the most fundamental parameters of stars, yet it is one of the hardest to determine as it requires modelling various aspects of stellar formation and evolution. When we compare the ages derived from isochronal and dynamical…
Dynamical mass estimates of simple systems such globular clusters (GCs) still suffer from up to a factor of 2 uncertainty. This is primarily due to the oversimplifications of standard dynamical models that often neglect the effects of the…
We carry out N-body simulations to examine the effects of dynamical interactions on planetary systems in young open star clusters. We explore how the planetary populations in these star clusters evolve, and how this evolution depends on the…